


I'm Not Going Anywhere

by constantconfinement



Category: The LEGO Movie (2014), The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Pining, Rex needs to learn to carry a flashlight, emmet is a good person, how do you title this, how does anyone title anything, instead of keeping all the lights on, rex is afraid of the dark, rex's panicking was based on my own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:50:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18341240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constantconfinement/pseuds/constantconfinement
Summary: Rex Dangervest hated many things. Vampires. Zombies. Dryers. Being the 2nd player in a video game. But they didn’t even come close to how much he absolutely despised the dark.





	I'm Not Going Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> Italicized words in single quotes indicate a character's thoughts.   
> Other Italics or bolded words have no special meaning.

Rex Dangervest hated many things. Vampires. Zombies. Dryers. Being the 2nd player in a video game. But they didn’t even come close to how much he absolutely _despised_ the dark, courtesy of Undar. He keeps his pride and joy, the Rexcelsior, well lit for a reason. There’s always some sort of light on in every room, even when he’s sleeping. Sure, it wreaks havoc on his power supply, but charging his ship’s battery more often than usual is a small price to pay for his peace of mind.

Rex sighed as he stared at his ceiling. _'Besides,'_ He thought, turning to face his dresser, _'Waking up in the dark usually means I end up breaking something in a panic'._ Picking up his phone, he looked at the time. _'3:00 am.'_ Rex sighed. He’d been trying to get to sleep since he saved himself from the asteroid belt. _'Since I saved **Emmet** from the asteroid belt',_ Rex reminds himself. _'Gotta start referring to us separately'_. Sliding off of his bed, Rex shambles off into the hallway. If he was going to be up this late, he may as well have company.

Rex shoved his hands into the pockets of his Dino pajamas (the _coolest_ pajamas he owns) started searching for his raptors’ room. Above him, the lights started to flicker. Rex picked up the pace. _'Must have forgot to charge it'_ , he thought. ' _Maybe if I can get to the breakers, I ca-'_

**Click.**

The lights went off. Shit. ' _Shitshitshitshitshitshit_.' Rex was looking around frantically, trying to find a light. He was running down the hallway in a blind panic, frantically searching for help before spotting a door with a faint light under it. “There!”, Rex shouted. Balling up a fist, he skidded to a stop in front of the door and smashed it open before scurrying inside. Rex backed up into a corner and pressed himself against it. His chest was heaving and he shivered, trying to calm down.

“…Rex?” Rex jumped and turned towards Emmet, who was using his phone’s flashlight to illuminate the room. His eyes were wide as he shifted to the edge of his bed. Standing up, he slowly moved towards Rex. “Are you okay? You seem a little…” He gestured to the smashed remains of the doorway, “…Freaked out. Did something bad happen?” Emmet stopped a few feet from Rex. “Did something attack us?” _'If something had attacked us, it has to be horrifying to scare someone as cool as Rex',_ Emmet shivered as the thought.

Taking a deep breath, Rex pried himself off of the wall and looked towards the doorway. It was crumbled, with large sections having flown off in varying directions. The door itself was smashed to bits, revealing the dark hallway outside. Rex kicked a stray brick before turning towards Emmet. _'I must have scared the shit out of Emmet when I smashed the wall"_ , Rex mused, _'I’ve gotta keep my cool. The last thing we need is both of us panicking.'_ He combed through his hair with his fingers “N-nah, I’m fine. Just, uh…” He scrambled for an excuse, “Going for a run.” Nailed it. “Wh-what about you? What’s got you up so late?” Rex swallowed, stretching his arms into the air, “Why’s your phone light on?” He leaned up against the corner, eyes flickering between Emmet and the hallway.

Emmet knew he was thickheaded at times, but he’s not _that_ imperceptive. He understood Rex was clearly terrified. Still, Emmet did appreciate Rex’s attempts to stay calm, however futile they may be. “I couldn’t sleep. So many things have happened today, I’m too excited to do sleep. I was just counting sheep when the power went off,” Emmet picked up his phone, “So I turned on a light to see what was going on. I was going to find you but it seems like you already had that covered.” Rex flinched at the mention of the outage. Emmet shuffled closer, speaking in a lower voice to try and calm Rex down. “You seem pretty freaked out, though. Did you see something in the dark? If we’re in more trouble than you can handle I’d like to help. I’m not much of a fighter, but I’m great at building things! I can barricade the hallway while you run and get the raptors. You can use my phone to light the way if you need to.” Emmet stood in front of Rex, now. He held his phone in one hand while the other rested at his side, disarmingly. If they were in danger, Emmet wanted to try to protect his new friend. It’s the least he could do after being rescued.

Rex shrugged his shoulders as his face tinted pink at how close Emmet was and at the genuine concern he was showing Rex. Emmet was probably shaken by Rex’s sudden intrusion, but still managed to prioritize Rex’s feelings above anything else. Emmet’s first response wasn’t to panic like Rex did, it was to assess the immediate danger and calm down those around him. _'He’s acting like a natural born **leader**_ ,' Rex realized, feeling a bit more than admiration well up inside him. He didn’t want to completely reveal his backstory just yet. But seeing how earnest and open Emmet was…It couldn’t hurt anything to throw the kid a bone. Rex muttered, “There’s nothing after me, kid. I’m just…scared of the dark.”

Emmet’s jaw dropped. _Rex Dangervest_ was scared of the dark? It was almost too odd to believe. But If the dark scares him this bad, Emmet figures he should take Rex’s fear seriously. Emmet wiped the shocked look off of his face, “Why? Did something happen to you? N-not like there’s anything wrong with being scared of the dark! It’s a really common and normal fear to have.” Emmet’s cheeks turned light pink as he verbally backpedaled.

Rex chuckled a bit at Emmet’s verbal vomit before looking at the hallway. “You hit the nail on the head, Emmet. A long time ago I was flying through the asteroid belt when I crashed into an asteroid. My ship was destroyed and I was rocketed onto the planet Undar of the Dry-ar system. I was trapped there for a few years in the dark before I could gather enough scrap to build myself the Rexcelsior.” Rex felt himself shiver again as he stared into the pitch black void of the hallway. Hesitantly, he continued, “It was torture, kid. I was trapped on that cold, dirty wasteland _alone_ for years. I couldn’t see past my own nose. All I could do was sit there and hope that someone would come and help me.” Rex was frozen, now. Paralyzed by his own _stupid_ fears. “Nobody came to help. I had no handsome stranger appear out of the sky to save me. No friends who missed me,” he felt his eyes sting as his vision welled up with watery tears, “ **Nobody cared, Emmet.** ”

 _'Rex is crying,'_ Emmet realized, ' _Rex is crying and probably having a panic attack. What do I do? What **can** I do? …I can stare like a doofus, apparently. Real helpful, Emmet.'_ Emmet started panicking as big wet tears ran down Rex’s face. He was shaking like a 2 dollar TV set and staring down the hallway like it may reach out and grab him if he looked away. ' _I’ve got to stop him from looking at the hallway,'_ Emmet ran his fingers through his hair as he thought, _'But what can I do? The only thing that calms me down when I’m panicking is Cuddling! But I don’t even know if that’ll help him. He’s not my clone!'_ Emmet looked back at Rex. He looked _haunted_ , backing into the corner as he balled his hands into fists. Emmet jumped. He had to act fast if he wanted to stop Rex from breaking anything else. Emmet steeled his resolve as he looked Rex in the eye.

“Rex? Rex can you hear me?” Rex nodded. “Alright, that’s good. Now I don’t really know if this is gonna help you right now, but is it okay if I touch you?” Rex snapped his head towards Emmet, which made him jump. The two stared at each other before Rex carefully nodded. Emmet placed the phone down on a nearby dresser before gently rubbing Rex’s shoulders in a feather-light massage. “Is this okay?” Rex exhaled a shaky sigh and closed his eyes. “…Taking that as a yes.” Emmet continued rubbing Rex’s shoulders in small circles with one hand as he dried Rex’s face with the other. Slowly, the man started to relax. After a few moments, Emmet gently grabbed the other’s hand and led him to the bed. Leaning against the wall, Emmet pulled Rex on top of his lap and held him close, rubbing his back with one hand while the other traced patterns in his thick brown hair. Rex clung to Emmet’s shirt, locking his arms behind Emmet and burying his face in his chest. His breathing slowed to a normal degree, but he didn’t dare to fall asleep just yet.

Emmet tensed up when Rex clung to his shirt. ' _Wow, this worked…a lot better than I thought it would. I’m glad he’s not crying anymore but-'_ Emmet felt his face heat up slowly as Rex slowly exhaled, ' _-Was he always this cute?'_ Emmet felt his chest tighten as he ran his fingers through Rex’s hair. It was hard not to pity him. He’s been through hell and did it _alone_. Emmet didn’t know what Undar was or what exactly happened. If it caused _this_ kind of reaction in Rex it had to be a nightmare. Emmet wrapped his arms around Rex, his chest tightening painfully. It had been a long time since Emmet’s been held, but it had to be even longer for Rex. Truthfully, Emmet kind of empathized with him. It’s not like anyone in Apocalypsburg could have held him like this, especially since they were more worried about the Duplos than cuddling anyone. “It’s okay, buddy. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”, Emmet mumbled. “I’m not gonna leave you here.” Rex didn’t say anything, he just clutched the back of Emmet’s shirt tighter.

They stayed like that for a long time, with Emmet softly humming songs while Rex quietly listened and held Emmet close. Whether a few minutes or a few hours passed before Rex fell asleep, Emmet didn’t know. In that moment, holding Rex’s (seriously adorable, if Emmet was willing to admit) sleeping form close to him, Emmet only knew one thing.

He wasn’t going anywhere.


End file.
